A Father's Love
by NejiHina100
Summary: Maurice has lunch with Belle and Rumple after their wedding. No Elsa, no switched dagger, no drama. This is Maurice's thoughts on his daughter's marriage and how he came to accept it.


**Disclaimer: **I owe nothing

**In honor's of Father's Day. No Snow Queen or switched dagger. Maurice's thought's on his daughter's marriage and why he accepted it.**

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Maurice French was walking up to Granny's, dressed in a nice collared blue shirt and tan pants, ready for lunch with his daughter and her new husband. It has been three weeks since he gave his daughter away to Mr. Gold and this was his first time talking to either of them since the wedding. He remembered the day when Belle came into his shop and told him the news. He had just finished trimming some roses in the back room when he heard the shop's bell ring. When he saw his daughter, he knew something was different. She always looked beautiful to him but that day, he could tell that she was glowing more than usual. He had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to like the news he was about to hear, and sure enough, Maurice heard the news no father ever liked to hear. His little girl was engaged.

He entered into the diner to see his little Belle and Mr. Gold sitting in a booth near the back. He took a deep breath before walking over to greet them, not really ready for this meeting. He wished he could turn around and go back to the shop, but he also knew Belle would be very upset and he didn't want to see his little girl mad at him again. He's been through that enough already.

"Father, thanks for coming." Belle smiled, standing up to hug Maurice before he sat down.

"You're welcome sweetie. Nice to see you too Gold." The two men politely shook hands, neither excited with this lunch. Maurice would easily admit that he did hate the man. After all, how can any father actually like the man that beat you nearly to death and stole your daughter away, _twice_?

"So how is the shop doing? Are the roses blooming good?" Belle asked, trying to start some conversation. It was either awkward silence or an awkward talk and she preferred the latter, it was just a little easier.

"Yes, they are doing fine." Maurice smiled. Ruby walked up to the booth and handed the three their menus. Maurice surprisingly laughed when the waitress slightly glared at his daughter. He heard how the wolf was upset at Belle for running off and getting married without her best friend, he was just glad that he was invited.

The three looked over the menus, not knowing where else to go with the lunch, except to order their food and eat. Quietly taking a deep breath, Maurice decided to go ahead and face the inevitable.

"So how is married life going for you two?"

"Great." Belle giggled. "Luckily, there isn't any new threat to ruin things. That's a great change for once."

"Tell me about it." Rumple mumbled.

You didn't actually have to been involved with anything in this town to know what was happening. Maurice heard everything that his daughter and her husband has been through for the last few years. First was being reunited after the curse was broken. Then, Belle got shot, lost her memories, became some bar lass named Lacey. The same day she got her memories back, her True Love left for a suicide mission. Maurice would never forgive Gold for breaking his daughter's heart like that, not to mention that it wasn't the first time he did it either.

The two lovers had been through so much in the last many years and Maurice couldn't even begin to imagine how Belle had stayed with this man all this time. If it was any other normal girl, she would have left long ago and never returned back to the old sorcerer. No normal girl would have even agreed with that fateful deal in the beginning, but Maurice knew that Belle was no normal girl. She was always an odd child growing up and it wasn't just the constant love and obsession with books. She would always ask strange questions and become curious in subject matters that not even the boys were interested in. She always seemed fascinated by the abnormal. She was definitely a peculiar girl, after all, you had to be to fall in love with Rumplestiltskin of all people.

"Have you decided what you are going to do with your apartment now?" Maurice asked.

"Oh," Belle looked at Rumple, "I don't know." Before Belle could continue, Ruby arrived and took their orders. Handing the menus back, Belle looked towards Rumple.

"I might sell it. I don't really have a need for it I guess."

"Perhaps you should keep it, just in case. It's always nice to have an extra place to stay."

"She could always come to my house if she needs to." Maurice jumped in. He wasn't sure if Gold was implying that Belle keep the apartment in case of a future fight, but he wanted to give her the option of coming to his house if she ever needed to. He would love to have his daughter stay at his house sometimes. Maybe they could get to know each other again.

"In this town, Belle, you don't know what could happen. What if you lost your memories again? You will need that apartment."

"Well that won't happen because you won't let that happen again. I know you Rumple." Belle smiled, placing her hand on Rumple's knee. Rumple smiled back at her and Maurice could see the love and adoration in his eyes. Feeling a tad awkward at the private moment they seemed to create, he cleared is throat and quickly spoke up, hoping to change the subject to something a little less embarrassing.

"So when is my grandchild coming?" Yes, that definitely was a lot less embarrassing. If the three people weren't awkward with the lunch already, that question certainly did the trick. Maurice was glad they didn't have their food yet, fearing they would have all choked to death.

"Uh..." Belle began, wide eyed at the confrontation of that particular matter.

"I'm sorry. I know you guys just got married and-"

"And I think we need some time before we go there." Rumple quickly stated. Belle and Maurice both knew what he meant by 'we'. Maurice could honestly feel bad for the man and perhaps for the first time ever. Gold had just lost his son after centuries of finding him. Although the florist didn't know the whole story, he knew how painful it was to lose a child. He lost Belle first to a deal with the sorcerer, then with the curse, memory loss, and then to the sorcerer, again. He couldn't imagine losing her to death.

He then saw the sorrow in Belle's eyes. Maurice wasn't sure what her relationship with Gold's son was but knowing his daughter, it was clear that she did care a lot about him too. After all, she got shot trying to help Gold get his son back. He was amazed how much she stayed by Rumplestiltskin, even knowing all his faults. It truly showed how much she loved him, no matter what.

"Have you met Neal yet father?" Belle asked, wanting to stray away from Baelfire, not wanting Rumple to feel any more pain on that subject.

"No, not yet."

"You should. He's precious." Belle smiled.

Maurice, along with the whole town, tried not to think too hard on the age subject. The curse really messed everything up a little. The curse caused them to be stuck in time for 28 years, never aging. He was surprised how no one noticed that fact before, except for little boy Henry, but he suspected that the curse caused them to not realize. Now that they were both broken, Maurice tried to deal with the fact that his daughter married a man who was not only a grandfather already, but also over three centuries old. Since Henry was Gold's grandchild, he was legally Belle's as well, though they never talked about it. That meant that Henry was his great-grandchild. All he wanted now was a grandchild from Belle. He knew that any child his daughter had would be beautiful, just like its mother. She was Beauty after all.

"Now that that witch is gone, how are you...uh, holding up?" Maurice hesitantly asked, not really wanting to upset the Dark One. Before Rumple would respond after his glare, Belle spoke up.

"Actually, Archie insisted that he goes to sessions twice a week."

"Really?"

"That was the deal. He wouldn't marry us because he didn't want me to drown Belle." Rumple explained. "Somehow he thinks I have a lot of issues I need to sort out."

"You do and don't worry, I'll be right here. I'm not going anywhere." Belle smiled, chuckling at Rumple's tease, even if it was true.

Before Maurice could ask another awkward and rather stupid question, they were all saved by the bell. Namely the one from the counter, telling Ruby that their food was ready. Once their food was placed in front of them, they began eating, hoping to end the lunch quickly.

"How is the library doing?"

"Great. The students have history reports due in a few weeks so they are using the library for research." As Belle continued to talk about the library, Maurice's heart was swelling with joy. He had never seen his daughter this happy before. He thought about how much she had changed since the Enchanted Forest. She was smarter, braver, and still had all the beauty and love in her heart and soul. She had suffered through so much at the hands of the Evil Queen, the Dark One, and even his own, and she stepped out of the fire as a very strong and independent women, pouring all her love and care into one man, helping him through his own fire. Maurice was never more proud of his daughter before and now he understood that giving the two lovers his blessing to marry was a great choice. Both Belle and Mr. Gold had changed over the years.

Maurice thought about all that has happened with Gold in the picture. The first day he saw the man, he stated aloud that he was a beast and a monster, but it was himself who was the monster that day. The sorcerer was simply working in his trade, offering help he asked for. It was he who gave his own daughter away, allowing his daughter to give her life, her forever, away to the notorious and evil Dark One. Yes, the man had his faults. He had kicked her out of his castle, leaving her with no home, played around with his words and breaking promises, and leaving her broken hearted while he ran off on a suicide mission, shortly after she recovered her memories. However, he tried to think about how they fell in love. Belle had told him what had happened in the Dark Castle, how he spared a man's life, gave her a library, allowed the sun to pour in his dark life, and Maurice knew it was all because of Belle.

When Belle told him about how and why she loved Rumplestiltskin, Maurice could see it in her eyes. He could also see that there was no changing it, no matter what the man did in the past or will do in the futre. Gold still had his faults, even today, but what Maurice admire about his change was that he was willing to do anything and everything in his great and dark powers to protect Belle, and give her anything and everything she wanted. It was all Maurice could ask of the man, to protect and love her with everything he had. Now, he could truly see that the man was doing just that.

Maurice could recall their wedding vows. Belle was right how the love they had was never easy but they fought for each other and always found each other. Maurice could truly see that Gold was genuine, talking about how Belle brought light into his life. That was Belle, chasing away darkness with her light and creating it if it wasn't there. Belle had told him about Gold's phone call when he was nearly dying while she had amnesia. Maurice could honestly say that he was proud of the man, for once. Even when she didn't remember him and probably didn't want to, it was her he wanted to talk to before he die, it was to her he poured out his heart to, it was her who saved him. Belle truly was a hero and Maurice could never loves his daughter more than he did right now.

Finishing their lunch, Maurice payed for all their food and said goodbye to his daughter and new son-in-law. He watched them walk away, hand-in-hand, out of the diner and into the streets. He didn't have to see their faces to know he just saw. He just saw his little girl with brown curls and blue eyes walk away with a man who had repeatedly hurt her but was repeatedly making it up. He saw how they fought everyone to be with each other and would continue to fight, never giving up on each other. He saw how they would sacrifice everything, their life and soul, just to be with each other. He saw his daughter walk away from the diner with her True Love, the Dark One. Maurice knew that Gaston, or any other man, could and would never measure up to the expectations that Rumplestiltskin set up to love his daughter. Seeing them now, he knew that if they could redo the day they first met, he would make the same exact deal.

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**I really liked the idea of darcyfarrow's fanfiction, Archie's deal. It made a valid point and I decided to mention that point in my story. I hope I did a good job with this. I tried to do a fic about Maurice's thoughts on Belle's engagement but I had trouble. I guess since it is Father's Day, it was easier to connect to those feelings. :) I hope you do something nice for your father today, wether it's take him out to eat, just hanging out, or even just giving him a hug would be awesome. :) Please review and enjoy your day. :)**


End file.
